Japan, S. Korea leaders vow joint response to N. Korea, close contact

The Japanese and South Korean leaders agreed Thursday to respond jointly and trilaterally with the United States to North Korea’s nuclear posturing as they vowed to communicate closely about regional and global challenges, in the latest sign of a thawing in relations long marred by wartime history.

Meeting for the seventh time this year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol both expressed their hope for further deepening of bilateral cooperation across a range of areas, not limited to security and their economies.

The two leaders agreed they will strive to maintain and strengthen a “free and open” order in the Indo-Pacific, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Kishida and Yoon also concurred that they will work in tandem to deal with the conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s war on Ukraine, as next year will see both Japan and South Korea on the U.N. Security Council as nonpermanent members.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shake hands prior to their talks in San Francisco on Nov. 16, 2023. (Kyodo)

“Together with President Yoon, I have been moving forward bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics, security, the economy and culture,” Kishida said at the outset of the meeting. “I hope to make further progress.”

Yoon said, “I am pleased that I have already held seven summits with you, prime minister, this year, solidifying bilateral trust and continuing the very positive trend in South Korea-Japan relations.”

Kishida and Yoon are in San Francisco to attend a meeting of leaders from Asian and Pacific nations, hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The United States and its Asian allies are preparing to establish a system by the end of the year to enable rapid sharing of information on North Korean missile launches.

During their roughly 30-minute conversation, Kishida and Yoon spoke candidly about North Korea, including a discussion on its nuclear and missile development, the ministry said.

The issues of wartime history and territory have long strained relations between Japan and South Korea. Until recently, the neighbors refused to hold summit talks.

A turning point in bilateral ties, which had hit their lowest point in years, came after Yoon became president in 2022 and announced a plan this March for a government-backed fund to compensate former wartime laborers who had sued Japanese companies.

Last month, Japan and South Korea marked a quarter-century since they issued a joint statement that aimed for a “future-oriented” partnership and then Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi expressed remorse and apologized for the suffering caused by Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Kishida and Yoon are scheduled to speak together at Stanford University on Friday, with the Japanese leader expected to underscore the need for robust supply chains.

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